Lexus: V8 here to stay

Lexus has revealed a replacement for the ageing 3.5-litre V6 is on the way - but its 5.0-litre V8 looks set to stick around.

Speaking at the 2015 Tokyo motor show Lexus' global vice president Mark Templin revealed work is underway on a new generation of powertains for the brand. The company has rolled out its first turbocharged engine - a 2.0-litre four-cylinder unit - in the NX, RX, GS and RC models in the last 18 months but its 3.5-litre V6 remains relatively unchanged for its latest models.

Asked if a new V6 was on the way Templin was open-ended in his response.

"You'll see several new powertrains over the coming years," he said.

Asked if they will all be turbocharged he played down the chances.

"I won't say that," he revealed.

That is good news for fans of the brand's current 5.0-litre V8 found in the RC F coupe and upcoming GS F sports sedan. While its rivals such as BMW and Mercedes-AMG are switching to turbocharged performance six-cylinder and V8s Templin says Lexus wants to stick with its current naturally aspirated motor for the time being.

"We really like the V8 in our F performance cars now, so yeah, I can see us having V8s in those sorts of cars for a considerable amount of time or for great SUVs like the LX," he said. "I don't see us walking away from V8s anytime soon."

Lexus' 5.0-litre V8 engine looks set to stick around. Photo: Supplied

However, when asked about the need to switch to forced induction for reduced fuel consumption and emissions Templin was elusive.

"Maybe. We'll talk about it another time," he said.

Templin was more forthcoming about plans for an expanded range of F branded performance models to add to the RC F and GS F.

"We want to build sexy cars that are fun to drive," he explained. "We do want to continue to expand our F Sport line up, it's been a huge success for us, it's brought in a lot of young customers that never considered coming to Lexus… We want to add more F products in future, absolutely. Our engineers learned a lot from the development of the LFA that is making all of our cars more fun to drive.

"Future platforms we're developing are going to be a lot more rigid with a lower centre of gravity which are going to be more fun to drive than even the cars we've brought out over the last four years."

But a successor to the V10-powered LFA supercar is unlikely to be on the agenda anytime soon.

"[Toyota president] Akio Toyoda believes every generation deserves a special car like the LFA. So I would never say never but it is not in our short-term plans," Templin admitted.